Summer Blues, Day Three: Orly Sweet Peacock

Sweet Peacock was part of Orly's Birds of a Feather collection from fall 2011, and it's a beautiful bright blue foil.  All swatches are two coats and no topcoat.

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I love this polish, even if it is a little distracting because of the shiny!

Water Marble Wednesday: Zoya Sam, Ibiza and Snow White

Like my clever friend JenJen, I went with a patriotic water marble for Memorial Day.  I used two crèmes, Zoya Sam and Snow White and one shimmer, Zoya Ibiza.  I'm still better at water marbling on jewelry than on my nails, but these are a huge improvement over my first efforts! :)

Left hand, indoors with flash:

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 Right hand, indoors with flash:

Right hand, indoors without flash:



You can tell on the pinkie, ring and middle finger of my left hand that my topcoat (Orly Glosser) made the colors run, so I switched to a NYX Girls glitter topcoat and picked out the purple hearts. 

Summer Blues, Day Two: China Glaze Blue Island Iced Tea

Blue Island Iced Tea was part of the China Glaze Bahama Blues collection, and it's a lovely glass-flecked denim blue glitter.  All swatches are three coats, no topcoat.  It looks sheer, but it's actually just pale.

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In the sun:

I love this polish, especially in the summer, and I'm so glad it's still available at a few etailers, since it is not part of the China Glaze core line.

Summer Blues Day One: Zoya Phoebe

I've never really understood the need to wear warm colors in the summer.  For me, summer is all about trying to stay cool because I'm so heat-sensitive (thank you for yet another 'gift' MS).  Blues, greens, whites, even some purples all make me smile in summer months.  So I'm doing another Blue Week, this time with cool summer colors.  It's only right to start off with Zoya Phoebe, a gorgeous bottom-of-the-pool blue matte polish.  It's opaque in two coats, and even with the matte finish, you can see a little bit of sparkle.  The first three pictures are Phoebe on its own, and the last is with top coat.



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Revlon Watermelon Fizz

Like the other Fizzes, Watermelon Fizz was part of Revlon's Sweetly Seductive collection of scented jelly polishes which came out last summer. Watermelon Fizz is an orange-leaning red. Swatches are all three coats, which left a small amount of visible nail line, but not enough to bother me.

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Indoors without flash:

 

I can take or leave the scent of this polish.  Basically, watermelon barely has a flavor, let alone its own scent, so most bath and body products take watermelon candy, a wholly imaginary fruit flavor, and translate it into a scent.  That's what this polish does too, and while it's unreal, it's not obnoxious, so I'll put up with it for the sake of a squishy, glittery, red jelly.

Water Marble Wednesday: Photo Tutorial

I need to go back to doing water marbles on my nails, but making jewelry is addictive!  Today, I'm posting how I make my water marble jewelry, and then I am going to go back to doing it on my nails, I promise.  Lots of pictures after the jump!

Revlon Grapefruit Fizz

Like Mint Fizz and Colada Fizz, Grapefruit Fizz was part of Revlon's Sweetly Seductive collection of scented jelly polishes which came out last summer. Grapefruit Fizz is a soft, orange-leaning pink. Swatches are all three coats, which left a small amount of visible nail line, but not enough to bother me.

In the sun:





Indoors with flash:



Indoors without flash:

I love, love, love the scent of this polish.  I've been on a big grapefruit kick lately, using Qtica's Grapefruit Surprise scrub and wearing the heck out of BPAL's Wake perfume, so this polish made me very happy with its strong and very true grapefruit scent!

Revlon Colada Fizz

Like Mint Fizz, which I used in last week's jelly sandwich, Colada Fizz was part of Revlon's Sweetly Seductive collection of scented jelly polishes which came out last summer.  Unlike Mint Fizz, Colada Fizz is extremely sheer.  It's been put with my other blue glittery topcoats.  Swatches are all three coats.

In the sun:

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This will definitely make a pretty topcoat to add an icy look to polishes, and thankfully there is pretty much zero scent to this one.  I adore coconut in baked goods, but cannot stand the smell in bath and body products! :)

Mint Jelly Sandwich

I love mint in all its forms--fresh from my garden, in desserts, in candy, in perfumes, in bath and body prodcuts!  I also love blue nail polish, so Revlon's Mint Fizz polish from last summer's Sweetly Seductive collection was a must-have for me!  To amp up both the glitteriness and the mint scent, I sandwiched one coat of Color Club Orna-Minted, which smells like peppermint, over two coats of Mint Fizz, which smells like spearmint.  Then I added another coat of Mint Fizz and a coat of Nubar Diamont and have been huffing my nails ever since. :)

In the sun:



Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

I Dream of Mermaids

Right now, the one polish on my wishlist I know I'll never get my paws on is Deborah Lippman's Mermaid's Dream.  It's just plain out of my price range.  So I did my best to fake it with some layering.  I used one coat of Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe, one coat of Zoya Zuza, one coat of Sally Hansen Bling-tastic,  and one coat of L.A. Girl Purge.

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Indoors without flash:





Not bad--it's certainly a pretty combination, but it needs more blue to match my dream polish.

Water Marble Wednesday: Zoya Robyn and Snow White

More water marble jewelry, this time in a soft blue and white summer color scheme.

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These were inspired by my need for cool colors in the summertime, my cool friend Robin, who promised to wear these after I sent them to her, and of course, the Zoya color Robyn!

L.A. Girl GNL272 burgundy magnetic polish

It always irritates me when brands don't bother to name their colors. This is a pretty standard burgundy metallic, but the shape of the magnet was brand new to me. I'd never seen a bullseye before, and basically bought the polish for the magnet alone. The polish was opaque in two thin coats, and was very pretty even without the pattern.

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More after the break!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects: Purr-fect Harmony

These polish strips are part of the limited edition Avril Lavigne collection, which I first saw on Nouveau Cheap.*  They're rainbow cheetah or leopard print on a silver foil background, they're gorgeous, and I got multiple compliments when I wore them!

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*I swear, if G ever wanted to take over the world, she could do it.  The woman has minions everywhere! ;)

Cult Nails Seduction

This polish is a gorgeous purple jelly with red-gold-orange-green flakies.  It's subtle but a showstopper!  I used two thin coats and still had some VNL, but it's a jelly, so that doesn't bother me.

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Like Captivated, Seduction was easy to work with and is available at Cult Nails.

Cult Nails Captivated

Cult Nails Captivated is a gorgeous pink-leaning coral jelly with red-gold-orange flakies.  For these swatches I used one coat over Models Own Tropical Sunset.

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In the sun:



The formula on Captivated is lovely, smooth and the flakies spread well without me having to push them around.  I imagine you could get this opaque in three coats, but I really liked it as a top coat.  It's available at the Cult Nails website for $10.

Models Own Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean is one of three new colors in Models Own Beetlejuice collection.  It's a lovely, soft blue foil with a very strong hot pink flash.  It applied beautifully, although it's somewhat sheer at two coats.  I used two coats for the swatches, but will use three when I wear it as a full mani.

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More pictures, including comparisons with two similar polishes, after the jump!

Models Own Tropical Sun

Tropical Sun is one of three new colors in Models Own Beetlejuice collection.  It's a lovely, soft copper-coral foil.  It applied beautifully, and covered well in two coats.

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Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

Tropical Sun is a very soft, pretty color, and just right for summer.  It's available from Models Own, which accepts Paypal and ships internationally.

Eee! I was Pinned!

I'm not on Pinterest, so I can't tell who originally Pinned my Bevin and Holly necklace and earrings, but I'm sending a huge thank-you to the original Pinner and all the re-Pinners. :)

THANK YOU!

Models Own Copper Pot

Copper Pot is one of three new colors in Models Own Beetlejuice collection.  It's a lovely, smooth copper-antique gold foil.  In addition to the foil, there are noticeable pieces of gold glitter.  It applied beautifully, and covered well in two coats.

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In the sun:

Copper Pot, along with the rest of the Beetlejuice collection, is available at Models Own website, where they accept Paypal and ship internationally.

China Glaze Glam-More

As I said yesterday, I'm not over crackles I'm not over glitter and I'm all over glitter crackles!  Glam-More is a hot fuchsia that cracks nicely and is very eye-catching.  Here is one coat of Glam-More over two coats of Zoya Phoebe, a gorgeous matte turquoise.  Glam-More does dry matte, so I used one coat of Orly Glosser to shine it up a bit.

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Phoebe alone

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I am very happy with my eye-catching nails.  I just wish I still had my purple and turquoise paisley skirt!